Split with Strasburg keeps Brush baseball on postseason bubble

Beetdiggers finish with three more league games

Brush sophomore Nick Wellen (21) throws the ball over to first base to record an out against the Strasburg Indians on Saturday, April 28, 2018. (Brandon Boles / Fort Morgan Times)

The Brush Beetdiggers wanted to leave Strasburg on Saturday with two wins and a little breathing room towards a postseason bid they are currently hanging on to. They would settle for a split, winning 7-5 in game one and losing 7-4 in game two of a critical double-header for both teams.

"When we left, the thing we wanted to do was to compete and to come out with two wins," head coach Kevin Fergus said. "The pitching was there in both games today, but our defense let us down a little bit."

Saturday was made into a double-header after previous games scheduled between Brush and Strasburg were postponed in the regular season. The first game would count towards the Patriot League standings while the second one was considered a nonconference game.

The day started off well for Brush in game one with an early lead playing as the home team. Ryan Dunker retired the side in the top of the first inning and Caleb Cox drove in Justin Griffith on a sac fly in the bottom of the inning to give Brush the 1-0 lead. Cox would jump start a three-run inning with a solo home run on the first pitch in the bottom of the fourth for his second RBI of the game. Following him was Nick Wellen driving in Gunnar Guzman with a single and later scoring on a wild pitch to put the Beetdiggers in front 4-0.

Another three-run inning in the fifth for Brush proved to be critical as Strasburg made a late rally to stay close. Guzman got the first run home with an RBI single and was one of two players to score on a two-run double from Wellen to end the inning.

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Strasburg scored three runs in the fifth inning and two in the sixth, but it was not enough to get the win late. Bryson Wooldridge picked up the save in the final part of the game.

"Our guys grinded it out and put the bat on the ball when they needed to," Fergus said. "They got the runners home from second and third. Ryan Dunker pitched well and Bryson Wooldridge followed up for him. It was a complete team effort."

In game two, Fergus had Ben Garrett start on the mound for his team. He liked what he saw in the sophomore, but the defense had a shaky game in the second of the double-header. The Indians took a 1-0 lead as a runner from first base moved up on a wild pitch and scored on an error in the first inning. Some more errors in the third and fifth innings gave Strasburg at-bats with runners in scoring position, which they would deliver on.

"Too many unearned runs in the game," Fergus said.

Brush finished with five errors in the loss, none bigger than the two in the fifth inning that changed the momentum of the game. After scoring three runs in the top of the fifth inning to go up by one run, the two errors and a single to start the bottom of the fifth resulted in the game being tied and Thomas Elpers coming to the plate with two on. He took the second pitch of his at-bat over the fence in left field for a three-run home run, erasing the lead and momentum Brush had to give Strasburg the 7-4 advantage.

The first two runners would reach for Brush in the seventh inning to try and force a rally, but a flyout and two strikeouts followed to end the game. Outside of the solo home run from Jayde Queen in the fourth inning and three RBI hits in the fifth, the Beetdiggers were limited in scoring chances in game two.

"I think the speed with how (the Strasburg pitchers) were throwing and competing was the difference," Fergus said. "It worked really well for them and not so much for us."

The split sees Brush improve to 6-10 overall and 3-3 in the Patriot League standings.

Entering Saturday's double-header, Brush was sitting at No. 30 in the 3A RPI standings from the Colorado High School Activities Association. With only 32 teams qualifying for district tournaments in two weeks, the team is hanging on to a postseason bid with three games to go this season.

"The good thing for us is that we have played a tough schedule all the way around," Fergus said. "We've been playing everybody that is playoff bound, and we still have some games with teams that are playoff bound. That's a good thing for us."

Coming up in the final week of the regular season for Brush will be games with the Resurrection Christian Cougars (11-4, 6-1 league), the University Bulldogs (15-2, 6-1 league) and the Valley Vikings (9-7, 4-2 league). Fergus believes his team's strength of schedule will give them a good chance at holding on to one of the last spots in the district tournament but added that the final week of the regular season would be critical to help their chances at qualifying for the postseason.

"One win that week would be fine, but I think two wins would get us in a good spot," Fergus said.

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